It was just over six years ago that defending welterweight champions Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao met in boxing’s biggest fight to date for the title of best fighter of their collective era.
Although the superfight came roughly five years too late following an extended soap opera of delays, it was still a matchup of the two best fighters, pound for pound at the time, on the planet. And given their respective ages — the unbeaten Mayweather was 38, Pacquiao was 36 — there was a historic element at play to the fight offering each the final chance to permanently define their legacies with a win.
Pacquiao, who partially blamed an injured shoulder, would go on to lose the fight by convincing decision and Mayweather, as expected, would retire for good four months later from the “traditional” portion of his fight career (despite a trio of comebacks best described as quasi, if not full-on, exhibitions). Pacquiao, however, never stopped fighting.
The interesting part about Pacquiao’s exceptional legacy is that even though he lost to Mayweather in a fight that for most would be the defining one of their career, the Filipino icon had already cemented his legacy, or so it seemed, back in 2010 when he became boxing’s only eight-division champion.
Few could’ve guessed Pacquiao would keep fighting at an elite level after 2015 given his age and style as a smaller fighter so reliant upon speed and explosiveness against bigger opponents. Even less could’ve predicted he would still be fighting today, headlining what was originally expected to be the biggest pay-per-view of the calendar year this weekend in Las Vegas.
Yet here we are, just days out from Pacquiao, at age 42, entering as the clear betting favorite following a two-year layoff when he challenges WBA welterweight titleholder Yordenis Ugas in Saturday’s main event (PBC on Fox PPV, 9 p.m. ET), after Ugas was a late replacement for unified 147-pound champion Errol Spence Jr., who withdrew with a torn retina just 11 days out.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) was just 16 in 1995 when he made his pro debut at 106 pounds. An astonishing 26 years later, at an age when his contemporaries, if they are active at all, are typically cashing out by boxing MMA fighters and YouTube influencers, Pacquiao clearly isn’t done adding to his legacy.
While his immediate post-Mayweather victories over Timothy Bradley Jr. (in their trilogy) and Jessie Vargas were impressive, they did nothing to suggest what would come after. In a 12-month stretch beginning in July 2018, Pacquiao authored a trio of victories over Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner and then-unbeaten Keith Thurman. The surprising resurgence nearly won him fighter of the year honors at 40 and re-established him among the P4P best in the game.
So how did we get here, with Pacquiao having seemingly found the proverbial fountain of youth? Is it as simple as a living legend, who consistently matched himself as difficult as possible in an era where it’s not the norm, being the last of his breed as a veritable freak of nature?
“Yeah, a little bit,” trainer Freddie Roach told “Morning Kombat” last month. “His speed, his power and his work ethic are still great. He trains really hard every day and he has great footwork.”
Roach, the Hall of Fame mentor who has served as a father figure for Pacquiao since the fighter walked off the street into his Los Angeles gym a little more than 20 years ago, ultimately settled upon PacMan’s passion for the sport — which has yet to be extinguished despite his fame and success — as the secret to his longevity.
Pacquiao agreed, telling CBS Sports last week, “My secret is training and, of course, discipline. [But] I’m happy doing this for three decades and I’m still enjoying what I’m doing right now.”
